I'm back! Sorry I didn't get a chapter out for a couple days, I've been really busy getting ready for school. So now I'm back!
"Portalle!" Blackout shouted, jumping behind a tree, narrowly avoiding turret fire, "Remind me again why you can't just transport up to the prize?"
"First of all, I have no idea-ugh-where it is!" Portalle grunted, concentrating and opening a six-foot portal in front of her. The turret fire was sucked into it, creating an opening for the two teams. "And second of all, I need to save my energy for moments like this!"
"Let me help." Aquila stepped forward, protected from fire by Portalle's portal. She raised her arms slightly. Rapidly, small droplets of water formed in the air around her. She stood for a minute longer, and more droplets joined the others, growing into small, floating globs.
"Hurry!" Portalle yelled, her voice pinched. "I can't keep it open...much...longer!"
"Okay, I'm done!" There was a swirling mass of water encircling Aquila, growing by the second. She thrust her arms out in front of her, and the water immediately formed a large wave that crashed forward, knocking some of the turrets out of the ground, and breaking the rest. Aquila then flicked her hand skyward, and the water retu
"Thanks, I was dying over here!" Portalle closed her portal, leaning forward on her knees trying to catch her breath.
"Aquila, that was awesome!" Blackout exclaimed as he emerged from behind the tree, staring in awe. Aquila looked away and blushed as the rest of the two teams emerged from their various hiding spots.
"Yes, she's wondrous and fantastic and she controls water." Portalle said exasperatedly. "Now enough with the lovefest, please? We need to get going."
Blackout and Aquila flushed red in embarrassment as they started up the mountain again toward the prize.
…...
Mystique paced in her room.
I let the boy escape from my grasp! She picked up a chair and smashed against a wall. Those stupid X-brats! She kicked the wall, putting a small crack in it. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Yo, everything alright in there?" Mystique grimaced at the sound of Toad's nasally voice.
"That need not concern you!" She yelled threateningly, not bothering to open the door. "So if I were you, I'd leave before I throw you out a window!"
She heard Toad let out a girlish scream and hop away. Mystique dropped into a chair and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was so frustrating. Not just losing the boy, but the whole situation. What was she supposed to do now? What was the Brotherhood supposed to do now?
Mystique stood up again. She walked over to an open window and looked out. The sun was shining brightly today, yet there was a slight nip in the air. She was just about to close the window when she noticed something, just at the corner of her vision. There was a large cloud of smoke billowing up from behind an apartment building.
What the-
Mystique's thoughts were interrupted by a faint, yet obviously loud, obnoxious laughter. Mystique frowned, not because she was wondering who the laughter belonged to, but because she was wondering why that person was here. Mystique recognized that laughter; it belonged to a mutant. Specifically, a maniacal Australian mutant who was a former acolyte and probably belonged at an asylum.
Pyro.
…...
"The prize-whatever it is-is in a small cave just behind that boulder!" Shaman exclaimed. His pupils glowed a soft green briefly. He, the rest of his team, and the allied team were standing on a narrow path on the side of the mountain.
"How did you know that?" Rockflame asked, looking around in bewilderment.
"There are some mushrooms growing in there." Shaman shrugged. Rockflame raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't elaborate. Instead, he pointed at a large boulder that was blocking their path. "Could you move that out of the way for us?"
"Sure, Blue Mushroom Wonder Boy." Rockflame muttered. She pushed the boulder, which fell off the edge and crashed into the ground far below.
"There, I see the cave!" Aquila ran toward it. It could hardly be called a cave, really. It was more of a large crack, barely big enough for a person to crouch in.
"Grab it!" Medicade was on her heels, along with the others. He was just about to help Aquila when something shoved him against the side of the mountain.
"Sorry, but did you think we'd just let you grab the prize?" Blackout grinned. Then, his face adopted a look of (fake) seriousness. "Portalle, stop them!"
Portalle smiled evilly. She pointed a hand toward Aquila, who was feeling around in the crevice, trying to find the prize. One of her portals appeared on the ground right under Aquila's feet. Aquila yelped and fell through, but not before grabbing onto the ankle of Shaman, who was right behind her, and yanking him along with her. They both dropped out of the portal on a chunk of rocks a few meters down the mountain.
"Portalle, look what you did!" Mirage shouted.
"It wasn't my fault!" Portalle yelled back. But she was clearly too tired to open another portal.
"Rockflame, you go and rescue Aquila!" Roulette instructed her. With a nod, she started climbing down. In the meantime, Roulette had other problems.
"Medicade, we have to stop them!" Roulette shouted. Blackout and Mirage were now closing in on him, backing him toward the edge.
"I'm a healer, I'm not cut out for this sort of fighting!" Medicade whimpered. Portalle was panting from exhaustion, so she wasn't an issue. Medicade started creeping toward the cave, trying to remain unseen.
"Not so fast!" Blackout whipped around and gestured to Medicade.
"AAAH! I'm blind!" Medicade fell to the ground, his hands over his eyes. Blackout smirked.
Roulette saw Medicade fall and decided he had to act. He started running toward the cave. Mirage tried to push him back, but Roulette ducked to the side, and, with luck, managed to dodge her. Now only Blackout stood between him and the prize. Roulette raised his hands and closed his eyes. Could luck save him again? Blackout didn't have enough energy to block any of Roulette's senses, so he was just about to trip him. Roulette couldn't stop in time, and was about to collide with Blackout when suddenly, his feet flew out from under him.
"Oof!" Blackout hit the ground with a thud. Roulette skidded to a stop and stared. Had his luck done that to him?
Blackout scrambled to his feet. "What was that?" he looked around. Suddenly, his hands flew to his neck. He grabbed at the seemingly empty air, grunting and gasping. Roulette, Portalle, and Mirage gaped; it was if an invisible arm had wrapped around Blackout's neck. He grabbed at something and yanked.
"Neat trick, huh?" A voice smirked from thin air. Then Blackout fell to the ground, as if something had pushed him. Roulette stared in amazement as Camo materialized, or rather, appeared. She was standing over Blackout, grinning.
"I've been following you all this time." she told them. Blackout groaned and sat up. "If anyone's going to get the prize, it's definitely not going to be you."
"Where's the rest of your team?" Roulette asked.
"Toward the bottom of the mountain." Camo replied. "Unlike you guys, our alliance with other teams broke up early. My team sent me ahead to claim the prize."
Everyone was so preoccupied with Camo that they didn't notice Medicade. He had recovered from Blackout's imposed blindness, and now had silently gotten to his feet. He crept toward the cave and looked around. He frowned, something was strange. Because he was smaller than average, he could fit inside. He searched every inch of the crevice. He was right.
"There's no prize in here!" he shouted in dismay. Camo, Roulette, Blackout, Mirage, and Portalle immediately looked up at him. But before they could say anything, he mountain disappeared, and they were standing in the Danger Room again.
"What happened?" Roulette asked in confusion. He, Camo, Blackout, Mirage, and Medicade were standing on a platform mounted on the wall. It lowered them slowly to the ground.
"The simulation ended when someone realized that there was no 'prize' in that cave." The Professor's voice came on over the P.A system. "The point of this exercise was to teach you your first and most valuable lesson when becoming X-Men: Teamwork. The 'prize' was made up simply to give you motivation to use it. And you did splendidly."
"I can't believe it." Medicade shook his head. "And we were all excited about the prize."
"Hey, it was fun!" Roulette told him.
"Almost getting shot at, falling down a ravine, and going blind are NOT my idea of fun." Medicade muttered.
"Oh, come on, you'd do it again." Mirage grinned. Medicade just grumbled as they exited the Danger room. Roulette saw Logan walking down the hall.
"Excuse me, Mr. Logan?" he asked. The gruff man stopped and turned.
"Can I help ya, bub?" Logan asked, looking straight into Roulette's eyes. (Which wasn't hard, since they were about the same height.)
Roulette gulped. "Are all the Danger sessions like that one?" he asked nervously. Logan chuckled.
"'Course not, kid. This is a playground compared to what you'll do eventually." He smirked and walked off.
"Oh, no." Roulette groaned. Even he might not be lucky enough to survive this.
…...
Elementro sat on the roof of the institute. The students had apparently finished their Danger Room session; he could hear the hum of their voices throughout the mansion.
I'm so bored. Elementro secretly wished he had something to do like the others. And he also wished, no matter how many times he tried to convince himself otherwise, that he wanted to be an X-Man. Trying to push those thoughts out of his head, he got up and stood by the edge. Taking a deep breath, he raised his head slightly. A seven-foot wide square platform of earth rose out up to meet him. He stepped on and lowered his head, bringing himself gently back to the ground. He walked up the steps into the institute. By chance, some of the other students, including Mason, were there.
"Hey, Elementro!" Mason called. Elementro turned around. Mason walked toward him.
His codename is Blackout, right?
"Has the Professor told you where you'll be sleeping?" Mason asked him, jolting Elementro out of his thoughts.
"No...he hasn't." Elementro answered slowly. Where was this going?
"Maybe you can bunk with me and Nik." Mason answered. Elementro studied him closely. Why was he being so friendly? Then again, he didn't have a place to sleep.
"Sure, I'll ask him." Elementro told Mason. It couldn't hurt, could it?
"Great!" Mason smiled. "So...catch you later!" Mason walked off. Elementro stood there for a moment. This was kind of a new experience for him.
...
Medicade, aka Paul, walked into the kitchen for lunch. Some of the other students had already gathered there, while others hung out in their rooms and upstairs. Paul sat down and grabbed a sandwich off a plate in the middle of the table. He was halfway through it when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Mason stood next to him.
"So are you going to do it?" Mason asked. Paul stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth and chewed.
"I think...maybe, I can try." Paul replied, swallowing, partly because he was finished chewing, partly because he was nervous. "I-I've never done anything like that before, though."
"It'll be fine." Mason replied. "Come on, it's the right thing."
Paul ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I suppose so."
"So, you'll do it?" Mason asked. Paul sighed with resignation.
"Yes. I'll do it."
Storm stood in the doorway and smiled, watching them. These students were impressing her.
Hoped you liked that chapter. I know I didn't get into the other characters much, but I needed this to set the stage for the following chapter. The other characters will be featured in more detailed, I promise. Stay tuned and review!